“The form of those principal and interest payments – made in non-U.S. currency, in cash – was necessitated by the effectiveness of United States and worldwide sanctions regimes over the last several years in isolating Iran from the global financial system”, Treasury spokeswoman Dawn Selak said.
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According to the State Department, a $400 million payment delivered to Iran in January was Iranian money from a decades-old account being returned.
The Obama administration is acknowledging its transfer of $1.7 billion to Iran earlier this year was made entirely in cash, using non-U.S. currency, as Republican critics of the transaction continued to denounce the payments.
Audio clip: Listen to audio clip. Though the State Department maintains that the payment wasn’t a “ransom”, it acknowledged the $400 million was used as “leverage” to help ensure the prisoners were released. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who sponsored the bill along with Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan.
The Florida Republican’s legislation is backed by GOP Sens. Obama and Kerry announced the deal.
On Tuesday, a closed-door briefing was held for congressional staff, where officials from the State, Justice and Treasury Department said that the $1.3bn payment was made in cash on 22 January and 5 February from the so-called Judgment Fund, Fund, a source told Associated Press.
Ultimately, the US was set to pay Iran $11.9 billion, but Mark Dubowitz, executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said even details surrounding those funds are questionable.
JOSH EARNEST [AUGUST 25, 2016]: We haven’t been as specific about the mechanism of the payment for the $1.3 billion in interest, other than to say that we had a similar arrangement with a central bank.
Moreover, the administration had more than $400 million in other claims against Iran, arising under the “Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act”, for court judgments it holds against Iran for terrorist attacks against Americans. The administration explained the $400 million was a settlement between the two countries that would effectively keep the matter out of worldwide litigation and save the US billions.
Back in August, the Obama administration would not tell Congress how the USA paid $1.3 billion to Iran. It was part of a larger $1.7 billion settlement agreement. Ted Cruz has pointed to the payment to back his claim that the nuclear deal is “fundamentally illegitimate”. Post-revolution, the United States kept Iran’s payment, opting not to deliver the weapons to the new Islamic regime.
The hearing, one of several planned in coming weeks, marked the first time Obama administration officials appeared before a congressional panel to answer questions on the payment. Because it was Iran’s fcking money (!), everything that Congressman Royce and the Republicans say about it is pure political moonshine, and the fact that they are embodying it in a formal resolution is nothing more than another indication that the House majority continues to be the Preschool of the Damned.
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Sanctions impair Tehran’s ability to receive payments using the global banking system.
